The Opposite of April
by lovablegeek
Summary: [PreRENT] Mark meets a girl at April's funeral who's the exact opposite of her cousin. MarkMaureen [One shot]


There were only a few people Mark didn't know at the funeral. It was a small thing, after all, most of April's family hadn't been able to come and most of the people who came were close friends of April's, people Mark knew well. And then there was the girl in the back, dark-eyed, dark-haired, head bowed and shoulders shaking with tears...

And because it was too hard to think about April lying there in the closed casket, Mark decided to distract himself by approaching her and asking gently, "Are you alright?"

The girl sniffled and forced a watery smile. It was ruined by her makeup, smeared by tears. "I'm... I'm fine. Thanks."

"I, um... I don't think I know you. I'm Mark Cohen. One of April's roommates..."

"Maureen Johnson," she said, wiping at her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket, like a child. "April's cousin."

"Oh. I, um... _You're_ Maureen?"

The watery smile strengthened a little, with a soft chuckle. There were very few people who _really_ looked pretty while crying, and Maureen wasn't one of them, but beneath the tears... She really was pretty. "You say that like you were expecting someone else."

"It's just that... April used to talk about you. You were her favorite cousin," he said slowly. "And, you know, she had pictures of you, I guess when you were younger..."

"Oh. Yeah." Maureen shifted a little, with a still sad, almost shy smile. "I grew into quite the babe, didn't I?"

It occurred to Mark that he shouldn't be picking up girls at the funeral of one of his best friends. At funerals at all, but especially April's funeral... Not that he intended to pick anyone up, nor was he doing that _now_, but that wasn't the point. This just felt... wrong.

Maureen seemed to realize it at the exact same time. She cleared her throat, took a step back, tugged anxiously (and endearingly) at one of her earrings, a little too gaudy for a funeral but Mark had the feeling she was only just getting used to being able to draw positive attention to herself, and liking the feeling. Mark also had the feeling she was much, much too young.

"I'm... sorry, I didn't mean..." she began, and trailed off uncertainly.

"Mark," Benny said softly from behind him, and Mark jumped, turning to face him. Benny gave a faint apologetic smile. "We're going home soon."

"Right." Mark grimaced. They couldn't stay out too long - Roger hadn't been able to force himself out of the loft, and Mark, Collins and Benny _all _knew that leaving Roger alone for any length of time now was not the best idea. "Um. Give me a second."

Benny nodded, and walked off to rejoin Collins, while Mark turned back to face Maureen. "Um... where are you staying?"

"Some hotel in Jersey," she answered, looking grateful for the interruption from what she'd been saying. "It was cheap."

"_Jersey_? You shouldn't... You want to stay over at our place? I mean, April'd kill me if she knew I was letting her cousin stay in Jersey. We've got the couch, it's not that bad to sleep on..." Mark knew from experience, all the times Roger and April had taken over the bedroom they shared _all fucking night_... No, he wasn't thinking about that.

Maureen started to shake her head, and then... stopped. Gave a tight almost-smile. "Sure."

* * *

Mark couldn't help but be glad that Roger refused to come out of his room. With Maureen there... Roger would either get resentful, decide Mark had somehow tried to replace April, or he'd be reminded of April and get worse than he already was... Maureen didn't even look like April, but Roger somehow always found a way to be reminded of her, something in her voice or eyes or smile...

Either way, it was better that Roger didn't actually see her just now. Mark dragged some blankets and pillows out of the closet and set them up on the couch for Maureen. She stood there awkwardly, gave him a faint, shy smile when he looked up and gestured to the bed. "Well, there you go. Not the best, but I've spent the night out here before, and it's definitely better than Jersey."

Maureen nodded. "Thanks for this. April, um... April said a lot of nice things about you."

"Um. That's... good to hear. We really loved her."

"I know. Thank you for that too." Before Mark could ask what she meant, Maureen stepped forward, perfect grace and elegance, and he couldn't believe this was the same gawky girl he'd seen as a teenager in photographs of her and April. And before he could think too much about that, she pressed her lips lightly to his.

Mark stepped back, blinking uncertainly. "Maureen?"

She smiled. "It was just to say thank you, dumbass."

A noise in the kitchen made them both jump, take a step or two further from each other, and turn to find Collins standing there, watching them both with a raised eyebrow and a tired smile. Mark, trying to ignore that smile, ran a hand through his hair.

"I was just... setting up the couch for Maureen," he explained. Collins shrugged and said nothing, just grabbing a glass from the cabinets and seeming to ignore both Mark and Maureen. Mark sighed and looked back to Maureen. "So... I'll see you in the morning, then?"

"Yeah. Of course."

Mark paused, and then stepped forward, cupped her cheek with one hand, and gently kissed her forehead, ignoring Collins' smile. "Goodnight."

* * *

Mark didn't wake up at the tentative knocking on his bedroom door. It was Roger who shook him awake - or, rather, threw pillows at his head until he woke up. "Wha?" he mumbled, blinking across the room in the darkness. "Wha's happening?"

"Someone at the door?" Roger said, like Mark was stupid.

Mark sat up and frowned at Roger, who still lay on his bed, giving Mark one of those looks that made Mark feel an idiot without fail. "Huh?"

"Someone is knocking on our door," Roger repeated. "And Collins and Benny don't knock. If you don't get it, I'll have to hurt you."

Mark rolled his eyes and tumbled out of bed, muttering under his breath as he walked to the door, "Wouldn't it just be easier to open the door yourself?" Roger didn't answer, maybe didn't hear, more probably didn't care. Mark hadn't expected anything else.

He opened the door to find Maureen standing there, dark hair tumbling loose around her face, mussed from sleep, cheeks damp. "Hey," she said softly, weakly. Mark took one look at her and stepped outside of the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"Maureen. Are you alright?"

"Um. Yeah. I'm sorry to wake you up, I just..." She ducked her head, shivering a little in the chill of the loft – winter still seemed to be hanging on, spring not yet set in. "Bad dreams? I kinda didn't want to be in a strange house alone."

"Oh, it's... It's fine. I'll sit up with you." Maureen started toward the couch with a grateful smile. Mark started to follow, changed course briefly to turn on the heater, and then returned to sit on the couch beside her. She sat there with the blanket he'd given her pulled around her shoulders, dark hair and skin pale in the moonlight.

Maureen smiled again as he sat down, warm and grateful and it chased away a little of the chill even before the heater kicked in.

"What did you... dream about? If you don't mind my asking."

"Just... regular nightmare stuff. You don't want to know." She pulled her legs up to her chest, tucking her chin on one knee. "You have any good dreams I should know about?"

Mark thought, trying to remember if he'd been dreaming anything before Roger woke him up with pillows. "Something with a dinosaur. Possibly."

She giggled, and Mark grinned, unable to help it. Cousin or not, she was... God, she was the opposite of April. April always had this dark, brooding artist thing going on, so she matched Roger perfectly, but Maureen... There was nothing dark about her, that Mark could see.

"Dinosaurs? Really?" She scooted a little closer, so their shoulders touched.

"Well, just the one..."

"Oh, well then, since it was just one dinosaur, that makes perfect sense."

Mark shrugged, inclined his head to one side since he couldn't find much else to say on the subject of dinosaurs in dreams, and smiled at her. "So, um. I guess you'll be going back home tomorrow? ...Where is home?"

"Boston," she said softly, with a vague, distracted smile. "Better than Hicksville, you know?"

"Right. Back to Boston, then?"

"I... I don't know," she said softly. "Not like I've got a whole lot back there..."

Mark didn't even really think before he asked, "Wanna stay?"

And she smiled. It was a beautiful smile, bright and shining and just lovely. "You mean it?"

"Well. As long as you don't mind taking the couch for a little while... The loft seems empty, with just four people, so..."

She lunged forward, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Mark closed his eyes instinctively, because that was what you did when you kissed, and colored lights danced behind his eyelids, and promise, and the future...

Definitely the opposite of April.


End file.
